Bridges
by AT0Mx0
Summary: Injured and bed-ridden, Lucy finds building bridges isn't as easy as it seems.
1. x

AN: Before I begin, I have changed a few details of the fight than what you see during the anime/manga. Also; Thank you to _WinterJade_ for being a huge inspiration, her stories are delightful! Go check them out!

**Bridges.**

* * *

Asuka was safe. _Breathe, Lucy._

A bead of sweat cascaded down her bruised temple agonizingly slow in that moment. She could feel the blood welling to the surface of her wounds, and the deep throb of burnt flesh pounding alongside her heartbeat. Her palm was slick with sweat against the cool gold of Gemini's key, and her magic almost screamed at her not to do this – she didn't have enough left in her for this to follow through safely. Her idle thoughts were cut off by a lash of red hair striking her across her cheek, and liquid as red as said hair oozed and trickled until it fell to the sand with a painfully loud _drip_.

"Is this all Fairy Tail has to offer?!" Wide eyed and heaving breasts beneath the onslaught of maniacal laughter that followed her opponents rising scream. Lucy grit her teeth so hard her gums stung, and without a moments concern for her own physical health – summoned Gemini.

The twin celestial spirits squirmed around their master anxiously awaiting orders, and said mage cast them a glance that could only mean one thing. They fretted for her drained state, mimicking each other madly until she gave them a hard look. They submitted, and from their joining came another – albeit less clothed Lucy Heartfilia.

The distant cheers and wolf-whistles of the men in the crowd were drowned out by the pumping of blood in her ears as she pressed her palm against her doppelgangers. Her eyes slid shut and the chant of her magic began to pass by her lips unconsciously. Magic quaking the ground beneath their feet sent the sand hopping and burst of lights began erupting from the clouding skies – Flare had fallen onto her rear despite her hard façade, and was screeching upon deaf ears. Lucy could feel herself weakening, perspiration pooling against her skin and her eyes about ready to burst from her skull. Her bones ached and just as the spell was at its peak, Gemini was sent back to the Spirit world.

Silence filled the arena.

Urano Metria had failed – She wasn't strong enough? She looked down to her hands, raw and stained a deep crimson. She felt her magic complete, what happened?

Gaze flicked up to the booth of Raven Tail, and she could practically feel the mirth bubbling about the stand. Those – those _bastards._ Rage and adrenaline fueled; she set to sprint towards said Guild, purpose unknown, before a familiar sting of pain shot around her neck. She was hoisted ceremoniously into the sky with her arms and legs bound by locks of hair, and glaring down to their mistress – was pulled into such a position so quickly her bones snapped and blood splattered from her throat and out into the air, she was instantly unconscious.

* * *

It was dark when she awoke.

The moon was casting a shallow gloom across the white-washed walls and white sheets she was tightly cocooned into. Her excruciating agony long passed – left with a dull ache under the bandages and plasters littering her body. She cleared her throat, the crust breaking in her throat and almost bringing her to a heave.

How long had she been out? Her head was stuffy and the room smelt distinctly like aloe and mandrake. Were her injuries grave? Would she be alright? She shuffled within her blankets to free her arms, her quest the glass of water on the end table, she was parched.

"Easy, Blondie."

Her blood ran cold, that awful prickling of your skin down your spine when something shocked you. Craning her head to the side, her brow furrowed as she laid her gaze upon Laxus Dreyar. He was leaning against the door frame of her room, jug of water in hand, a small set of cuts on his neck and cheeks. She tried to conjure her voice forth, resulting in a cracked breath and a dark blush creeping up her neck. She averted her eyes. His mouth lifted at one corner, a smile brimming in his eyes _almost_ – before it quickly disappeared to be replaced with a furrowed brow. He slowly moved to fill the glass of water at her bedside, and Lucy felt the awkwardness breeding between them rapidly. What do you say to someone who you don't exactly know?

"H-How badly…" She trailed off, her voice box rejecting the notion of sparing words on the Lightning mage, but Laxus quickly picked up the pieces.

"Porlysucia thought you weren't going to make it," The finality in his voice made her sink further under the covers, "Master is having a few of us take turns in checking on you."

"What about Natsu?" She piped up, wanting the company of her favourite Fire Dragon instead of a broody blonde. She studied the muscles in his collars and shoulders as he dumped himself into the chair beside her bed, tossing his head backwards and rubbing his eyes as if all of this wasn't making him nervous. _It probably wasn't._

"He spent the night with the young shape-changer after she had to carry him from the bar."

"Oh."

She swallowed her jealousy. Natsu and Lisanna's budding love shouldn't be such a high priority in her mind with nearly dying and all. But it struck a tight nerve and sent her heart into a spasm, that little green monster they call Envy upon her shoulder cackling dreadfully into her ear. She'd noticed it from the way they are everyday – she'd always be first to see to him if he'd been injured, tending his wounds with loving touch and soft smiles. She'd gently part the Dragon-slayer with Gray, as easy as placing a palm upon his arm; Natsu would turn into a grovelling puppy and give the white-haired girl big eyes filled with joy and apologies, scoop her up in his arms and whisk her about their Guild.

Lucy ground her teeth.

She finally managed to untangle herself from her sheets to aim for the freshly poured liquid, a hiss of pain across her lips trying to shuffle herself into an upright position to no avail. She didn't think that through properly, and now he was looking at her with those steely blue eyes of his, expressionless as always. She _hmph'd_ and decided it wasn't worth showing herself to be even weaker in front of the grandson of her Master – turning her head from him and allowing herself a moment of recollection.

_Blood, pain, tears_. Hell, she couldn't even remember how she got out of the centre of the arena. _Who had pried those dirty tendrils of fire from sinking into her skin any deeper? Who had pressed her broken body against their chest? Who had forgiven her for staining their shirt with her blood?_  
She was broken out of her thoughts by cold air hitting her body. The blanket securing her down was slid away from her shoulders, a weight fell behind her on the bed and she held her breath against the tight pull of her wounds as she was lifted and propped into a sitting position. Propped against a chest, a glass of water was pushed into her hand.

Her face was as red as Flare's hair and then some.

She'd never been in the proximity of Laxus like this before. Her arm, frail and bandaged raised up to grasp the cold glass, and his arm wove around her midsection to keep her propped up, glancing away from the girl and out of the window; a pale moon haunting the starless night. The water down her throat was a welcome release, her body relaxing and her eyes sliding closed as she breathed out heavily through her nose. Cup drained, she settled it with her hands in her lap and she revelled in the moment of sitting upright.

He made to move from behind her, and one of her hands closed around a bunch of fabric at his thigh. His eyebrow rose, "… You're hurt." She whispered, not needing to look at his face again – remembering the nicks and cuts lining his jaw and cheeks. "What happened?"

Laxus looked down upon the back of her shoulders, idly counting the freckles lining them as he breathed low, and recited what had happened during his hallucination-based battle with Alexei, or more so, his father. He eloquently left out the details which were for his grandfather's ears only and in the midst of his tale, her head had turned – eyes gazing up and searching his face. His words had trailed off into a murmur, and the deep purr of his voice had enthralled her.

She caught every contour of his face in the pale of the moon, and the shadows highlighting the deep scar that ran across his eye, and trailed off to complete the tell-tale lightning bolt on his cheek. The eyes that lay beneath the rugged man were indeed as deep as the ocean, dark and ambitious in stark contrast to the pale blonde of his spiked hair. His jaw was strong to accommodate for the full mouth that lay above his chin. Despite being one of the less outright fangirl'd men of the Guild, Lucy couldn't see why. Those eyes framed by dark, thick lashes caught her studying him and he almost reeled back and stepped up, away from her.

But quick thinking Lucy did the impossible and mostly definitely crazy and caught his mouth with hers.

Laxus was never one for blushing, he didn't have time to let himself be embarrassed or nervous but he couldn't deny the heat that rose into his face. Eyes wide, staring at the closed eyelids of the blonde. Maybe she was grieving her loss of relationship chances with Natsu, maybe she was delirious from her medication, and he couldn't put a reason on the abrupt affections. He sat in shock, not returning the kiss despite the sweetness she poured into it. Her eyelashes were planting butterfly kisses of their own against his cheekbones and her hand had crawled back onto his thigh during the moment.

Her mouth was small and warm against his, and as beautiful as the celestial spirit mage was – he couldn't do this, to take advantage of the injured girl. He gently broke off from her, watching as those doe-brown eyes fluttered open and those lips remained parted.

"I-I'm sorry…" She spoke almost under her breath, and turned herself away from him to run her finger idly along the rim of the cup still pressed into her palm. _Shit, well done Lucy! That tiny bridge you just built is burning down._ She reprimanded herself, "You… You can go, I'm fine." Assuring him, she justified, but in reality, was she just assuring herself?

"Don't beat yourself up, Lucy." Came the coarse response, her name on his tongue sounded so foreign, and it elicited a soft exhale from said girl. "Rest," He commanded softly, his brain kicking itself for how tender he was being with her, past curiosity leading to affections or no. He slid from behind her, lowering her back into the soft haven of the hospital bed. Her chocolate eyes were upon him the entire time, searching his face for the answers of questions she'd not yet asked.

He plucked his coat from the chair beside her bed, and it billowed out as he restored it to back over his shoulders, the muscles in his back taut and rippling.

"I'll see that Juvia comes down within the hour to check on you, Blondie."

And with that, he'd turned on his heel and strode from the hospital bed and into the shadow beyond the hospital ward – leaving her dazed and questioning _why._

* * *

AN: This _was_ going to be a one-shot, but I'm turning it into a two or three-shot depending on how I'm feeling. I've rewrote this twice and found even putting in a one-sided kiss _still_ feels OOC for Laxus, and he's not the one doing it! So I'll need time to get a sort of familiar relationship going before those feelings are returned/or there is a lemon. We shall seeeeee! Oh and thankyou for reading!


	2. xo

AN: Because I'm not a manga reader I'm not sure what happens in the Grand Magic Games, and I for one am not spoiler-ing it for myself for the sake of this, so unfortunately the tournament will have to go down without a hitch. It wouldn't make sense for something big to be happening and Lucy to be lost in recovery without being aware. Sorry guys, I simply wouldn't know what to write to be true to the series!

**Bridges. **

* * *

"A broken back?! Luce, you're a cripple!" came the over-the-top exclamation from Natsu.

_Oh, great. Thanks buddy._

Lucy settled for a half-arsed glare in his general direction, a dark aura positively pouring from her being. Porlysucia gave a sigh of defeat.

"A fracture, Natsu." Somewhat this brought a twist in the pink-haired boys face, suddenly losing enthusiasm for the not so grievous injury. Forever hard-core in whatever he did, it seems.

"You'll need to remain in bed for the duration of the games, girl. No strenuous movement is advisable but we'll need to get you into the habit of walking again immediately."

Walking? She couldn't walk? Lucy was suddenly gaunt with horror. How would she appear the ever attractive young woman with the gate of a true lady if she couldn't even _get out of bed?!_ Porlysucia shook her head, a silent smile gracing her thin lips. "Fear not, Wendy has become quite efficient in her arcane healing and should be able to speed things up a bit – but I can't have her exerting herself like that when she's required to participate in the games."

She released the air she was holding tightly in her lungs heavily in relief, but felt a pang of sadness at her early retirement from the competition. She'd let Raven Tail win, get the one up on her and prove to her that she really wasn't as strong as she'd started believing herself to be. A tiny, almost non-existent smile curled onto her lips at the reminiscence of Laxus telling her the tale of how he'd defeated – and exposed Raven Tail for their cheating and scheming. They'd been promptly expelled from the tournament. At least she wasn't the only one.

Her mind wandered back to the night before, the way he'd been so gentle with her – of course it was because she'd been crippled and definitely _not_ because he thought of her as anything more than a stain on Fairy Tail's golden tablecloth. But still; those arms that could've crushed her the minute they wove around her stomach were surprisingly soft, and she didn't miss the tiny quiver that ran up his shoulders when she'd pressed her lips against his.

_Why did I do that?_ She questioned herself, the back of her neck prickling with the heat of a blush. She squashed her eyelids closed to quickly show that memory the door – making sure it hit itself on the arse on the way out. _Stupid Lucy._

"Luce, you're going red!"

"Something on your mind, dear?"

"Are you okay?"

"You look like a tomato!"

"Aye!"

The barrage of questions roused her from her thoughts, and she weakly tried to respond to them all in turn, her mind was somewhere else and the pounding in her temples signalled another round of a headache.

"The old man wants to see you, Porlysucia."

The gruff voice cut through the interrogation and silenced everyone in the room. Gajeel stood in the doorway, large and intimidating, his arms crossed across his chest. He clearly didn't revel in the fact he was a messenger boy. The sunlight streaming through the window in foggy beams caught the many, _many_, piercings littering his face and arms, and he tapped his foot almost impatiently.

"Alright," The pink haired woman sighed, taking to her feet. "Everyone out – leave her alone, she needs to rest." Porlysucia swept her eyes over the young occupants and they dutifully trudged from the hospital room, Natsu knocking shoulders with the darker Dragon Slayer on his way out, earning a prompt _'Fuck off'_. Lucy's eyes cast down to her bed sheets as she wiggled her toes to make sure they were still attached to her legs. She could still feel everything, thank god. She'd been convinced she was to be – as Natsu had so eloquently put it – a cripple.

"Oi," Silence. "… You alright?"

Her eyes snapped up to Gajeel, whose eyes were blank staring back at her. He looked mildly uninterested; and with her quick nod turned to leave. "Good, Levy's worried."

And with that he'd strode off, she assumed back to the arms of her best friend.

* * *

Night time had always been her least favourite part of the day.

She couldn't bring herself to enjoy the silence, the darkness and most certainly the eeriness of usual everyday things. Hell, even her shadow on the wall looked menacing. Gray had left from his '_watching Lucy shift'_ a while ago and brought her back from the bathroom, tucked her back into bed and forgotten to fill her glass of water.

Her mouth felt like the desert. Was this a side effect of that god-awful paste she'd been force-fed?

The blonde gently unwrapped herself from her blankets, taking care to not get them tangled amongst her feet. She scooted backwards as best she could with a hiss on her tongue, clenching one of her fists until it turned a deathly shade of white to cope with the pain the best she could. Her upright position was glorious, and despite it being a mundane task that wouldn't even cross your mind, she'd done it all by herself – she was even a little bit proud.

The clock on the wall told her that it wouldn't be another 15 minutes before someone was to come and check up on her, surely enough time to cross the room and find a sink so she could relieve her tongue from scraping against her teeth like sandpaper. Her legs swung around with a _stab_ in the centre of her back, and the cold of her toes tickling the tile floor made her squirm.

"Half way there…" She murmured, gently grasping the headboard of the bed, and with one final deep breath, pushed herself into a stand.

The pain was unlike anything she'd ever felt. It was a sharp wave of stabbing pain emanating from the backs of her legs, shooting up to drop the bomb on the centre of her spine. She ground her teeth, pushed off on one foot – took her first step – and promptly fell face-first to the floor.

The floor against her cheek was _fucking freezing._

Lucy groaned, whinged, whined and perhaps babbled a bit to herself for a while. She was most certainly content just to lie there until someone found her and took enough pity to put her back against the plush of the mattress and bring her a thousand glasses of liquid. If it was Juvia, maybe she could be convinced to flood the place and Lucy would never have to leave her bed again! Oh the possibilities she could –

"Blondie?"

Her eyes glanced up perhaps a bit too quickly and made her dizzy, a prickly heat flushing her body and amongst the blur of her room stood a rather confused looking Laxus. One eyebrow was raised whilst the other frowned against his eyelid, one side of his mouth was slung up in a half-arsed smirk. He was clearly laughing at her expense.

She chewed her lip and glanced away from him, thoroughly embarrassed.

"I fell out of bed."

"Uh-huh."

The tell-tale feel of those arms encircling her was a welcome tingle in the pit of her stomach, and though her back practically screeched its discomfort as his muscles met hers, she was lulled into his chest and didn't complain once. Instead she found herself inhaling deeply – he had no particular scent like she found described in her romance novels. No fruity smell, no flower… Nothing. Just his smell, something that belonged solely to him but couldn't literally be put into words.

He took the utmost care in leaning down to place her against the bed, and once again fell into the ponds he called eyes as she watched him, noticing idly his eyes flicked away from her face as she'd tenderly chewed on her bottom lip. She couldn't put her finger on why he seemed to have mesmerised her the previous night; so much so she'd slanted her mouth over his and poured a lot of confusing emotions into it.

Maybe it was how attractive he was? He was tall – so much so than herself. He was muscular, and overall especially masculine. Maybe it was because he was somewhat like Natsu, but different enough for her to forget her infatuation peacefully. Why, oh why, did she have a thing for Dragon Slayers? They were painfully bewildering.

"Laxus…?" She'd uttered as the covers gently trailed up to her shoulders, and he patted the sides of the blanket down, still avoiding her inquiring gaze. He made a grunt of recognition, and she took a steady breath. "I'm sorry." An almost inaudible whisper.

He'd paused then, his eyes raking up the lumps and bumps of her body snug under the sheets, until a soft look met hers. His mouth was set in a tight line; he'd perched on the end of the bed beside her.

"Hn."

Her heart positively sank at the lack of response, casting her eyes down in embarrassment. How could she have been so stupid to _kiss Laxus Dreyar_ out of the blue thinking he would happily accept such a thing and return her… feelings? Were these feelings? She glanced upwards in hopes of answers.

A shadow cast over her, looming ever closer and a warm breath fanned out against her face. His lips were practically dancing upon hers in an instant, but never quite touching and fulfilling the kiss. His eyes were open and laced with mirth at her torn expression, a grin on that beautiful mouth of his.

He did _love_ to tease and she looks positively adorable trying to figure what he was about.

She'd leaned up slightly to press her lips closer to him, and he'd pulled away slightly, a breathy chuckle heating up her face. His hand had found a lock of her hair, ensnaring and twisting it around his finger languidly.

Those eyes of hers had fell to a half-lidded state, a whine had managed to find its way from her throat and again as she moved towards him, he moved back only just so.

"What're you playing at?" was her soft moan against the silence of the hospital room, and he'd almost crushed his mouth against hers because of such a tone – but restrained himself to pull back again.

"Come get it."

Her eyes snapped open as he'd moved backwards to take a seat on the chair away from her bed. He looked almost smug sitting there, his chest huge with its gentle rise and fall. One hand hanging limply over the arm of the chair whilst the other bent and cupped his jaw. Those _fucking_ eyes burning holes into the blankets surrounding her, leaving her feeling naked and _hot._

She blushed darkly.

"I-I can't walk."

"Learn."

* * *

AN: SHORT! I apologize I've been in hospital since Wednesday so I'm not feeling very well lately. But I do love cutting chapters off in stupid places; there'll be more so doooon't worry. Thankyou for reading!


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